1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to auxiliary braking systems. In particular, the present invention relates to a brake light switching and monitoring device that may be used with a towed vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In some situations, when a vehicle is being towed, the towed vehicle relies on the braking system of the towing vehicle for stopping or slowing down. This situation typically produces undue stress on the towing vehicle's braking system. As a result, the life span of the towing vehicle's braking system could be significantly shortened. For instance, the brake pads of the towing vehicle could wear out faster. This situation may pose a risk that the towing vehicle will lose its brakes, perhaps causing an accident.
Furthermore, significant stress on the vehicle connection system, such as the hitch, may result when the towing vehicle stops or slows down the towed vehicle. If stress exceeds the structural strength of the hitch, catastrophic failure of the hitch may result. In such an event, the towed vehicle may become decoupled from the towing vehicle.
Auxiliary braking systems have been developed to try to solve these types of problems. Some jurisdictions require the use of auxiliary braking systems, especially when the vehicle being towed is heavy.
Some auxiliary braking systems require tapping into or replacing connections to the towed vehicle brake light switch in order to properly operate. The brake light switch in a towed vehicle senses the depression of the brake pedal and turns on the brake lights of the towed vehicle.
The brake light switch is typically positioned under the dashboard in a location that makes cutting and splicing additional wires an uncomfortable and arduous task. In addition, there are a large number of wires running under the dashboard. It can be difficult to select and cut the correct brake light switch wire. Cutting and replacing wires under a dashboard requires substantial labor and time to install. What has long been needed is a voltage monitoring and switching device that does not suffer from at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art devices.